Hi Aimee,
I am in the dental field and will try to offer you some help here.
First of all, please calm down and know that you have not described symptoms of oral cancer. You have described symptoms of a chronic gum disease problem and a definite tooth infection. Both of which can and will affect your overall health. Blood tests do not always tell an accurate picture of our overall health. They are blood markers for signs of disease, illness and inflammation that indicate when someone has been out of whack for a very long time. In fairly healthy people, frequently there needs to be an acute or definitive malfunction going on at the time the blood is drawn for a marker to show a problem. So although we need to rely on them we need to realize the short comings of them as well.
In my opinion based on my professional experience ..... your dentist suspected that this tooth was infected when he removed the original filling and that is why he put you on an antibiotic. If he thought that the tooth was just sensitive but not infected, he would have removed the filling, placed a temporary filling and not prescribed an antibiotic. The "filling" did not infect this tooth as you said he told you. The fact that he stirred up the bacteria (that was already present) during the drilling and then closed it up is what has caused the increase in the inflammation. There is pressure building up inside of the tooth and that is why you are having various inflammatory symptoms.
As you stated the antibiotic temporarily subsided some of the symptoms but did not take care of the problem. The root canal procedure is only able to remove some of the infected nerve tissue as there is no access to the tiny dentin tubules (microscopic canals) that contain nerves as well. These nerves become necrotic and infected once the root canal procedure is done because there is no longer any blood or nutrition going into the tooth to keep them alive and healthy. So in a nut shell a root canal does not cure the infection inside of the tooth. The only way to cure this infection is to remove the source which is the tooth.
All of your symptoms are indicative of an infection and inflammation. It is not wise to wait a week or more to see a dentist. This tooth is very sick, it is obviously making you not feel well physically and emotionally... if you want to cure the problem then the tooth needs to be removed. I always advice patients to see an oral surgeon for removal of their infected teeth as they are well trained in the removal process... much more so than most general dentists.
Aimee, I know you are scared and I know you probably do not want to lose your tooth. However, you have not described symptoms of oral cancer and this problem can be taken care of by removing the source of the infection which is the tooth. I will tell you this... any long term infection anywhere in or on the body can become cancerous. In some people this would take years to happen in others not so long. So that is something to consider when you are deciding what to do with this infected tooth.
Another issue is your chronic gingivitis. This is a serious dental concern as it is a health risk due to the chronic build up of bacteria in your mouth which filters through your blood stream to all other areas of your body. The best and easiest way to control this condition and even cure it would be to have daily meticulous home care and eat nutritiously. Sugary foods and drinks, processed foods, starchy carbohydrates all contribute to the accumulation of plaque making it difficult to continuously remove from our teeth. Here is a list of starchy carbs and what you can eat to substitute them...
http://www.livestrong.com/article/35...starchy-carbs/
It is not uncommon to see patients who have your exact situation going on and they usually feel pretty ill most of the time. Once you deal with this infected tooth.... you can reverse your gingivitis situation by altering the bacteria in your mouth to a more healthy stable flora through oral hygiene and diet. It takes some willpower and commitment on your part but it is so worth it!!
Please try not to be so scared. Stop looking at the cancer sites as they do not pertain to you, based on your descriptions here.
Do you know of an oral surgeon who you could go see?
Bryanna
QUOTE=Aimee57;982307]Hi,
I have a few problems with my health involving my mouth/neck area, and was hoping I could get some advice. I have a doctors appointment on the 17th May, to discuss something else and will mention my symptoms then, but in the meantime I would like some help. This will probably be pretty long, so I apologise in advance.
I am a 20 (nearly 21) year old Female, I don't smoke, and neither do I really drink, if I do it's no more than a few small bottles (275ml size bottles) of alcohol at a time (5 at most with about 4% alcohol in each bottle) months apart. When I was younger I was pretty bad at taking care of my teeth. I still have all of my own teeth (bar 4 that I had removed to fit a brace that I had after all my adult teeth came through), but I have a lot of fillings and have had gingivitis on and off for years.
Anyway. I have been having trouble with my lower left molar (second from back) for around 7-8 months. I see my dentist every 3 months, due to my previous poor oral hygiene. I first started having problems with this tooth around September or October last year. My dentist took the filling in my tooth out and looked in my tooth, he said he couldn't see anything wrong and put me in a 5 day course of amoxicillin. This stopped the pain and when I went back a few days later, he simply RE filled my tooth with a normal filling and sent me home. Fast forward a few months to February of this year. Same tooth starts acting up again, though this time the pain was minimal and I could bare it, so I (stupidly) decided I could wait until my next check up to have it sorted.
Around 25th of April my tooth was really beginning to hurt and my gum where the tooth is had swollen up, and I had a tender bulge on my left jaw. I made an appointment and saw the dentist a few days later, again he took my filling out and out a temporary one in, and said he thought my tooth had been infected by the filling. He gave me another 5 day course of amoxicillin and put some antibiotics in the infected tooth, before putting the temp filling in, and said to make my check up appointment that I had in a few days longer and he would give me a root canal.
The antibiotics I had reduced the swelling of my gum and face, but I still had a bump under my gum where the swelling was. I went in on Thursday 2nd May and had the root canal done. He took is x-rays of my tooth where the infection was mouth (as he always does, regardless of what I'm there for.) one before and one after. He done my root canal and told me to book and appointment in 3 months.
It's been a week since I had the root canal done and the bump on my gum is still there, it's not painful to touch (though there is something behind it that is a sore to touch, though I think that is where he injected the anaesthetic). I have noticed that in the last few days the left side of my face has swollen up a little bit (feel it more than see it), and I have a very slight, non painfully bump on the left side of my jaw, it's a little tender to touch. I have been getting a mild tingling sensation and...numbness?(I'm not sure if numbness is the right word as I could still feel when I touched it and the difference between hot a cold etc...) on the left side of my face, around the cheek jaw area. My cheek is a little tender to touch and feels (though this could be my imagination) a bit thicker than my right, if I slip my finger inside my mouth and leave my thumb on the outside and light squeeze. The left side of my neck feels a bit bigger to me and sometimes has a very dull ache at the top near my jaw.
I done what I always do when I have a problem, and consulted Dr. Google about my symptoms. First thing that comes up?. Oral cancer. Given the fact that I have had a mild to moderate sore throat for a week or so, that comes and goes throughout the day and feel like there is something stuck in my throat (had this feeling got over a year on and off, doctor felt my throat last week and said she couldn't feel any abnormalities). My left cheek is slightly warmer to touch than the right.
Now I am really scared that I have Oral and/or Throat Cancer. I've had blood tests sent off recently for other reasons I've been worrying about. Was tested for thyroid, glucose and if I remember rightly I had a full blood count as well. I got the results back today and they are all clear. Looking in the Internet signs of abnormalities such as Oral Cancer will not show up in a blood test (I know blood tests don't show cancer, but abnormalities in things such as your White Blood Cell count.)
I wanted to know if it could be cancer, or if it's more likely the infection could have spread from the tooth and be causing these problems I'm having (I know that is serious too as it could enter my bloodstream, heart, brain etc...). I am occasionally getting mild shooting pains from the side I had the root canal in the same place (could the tooth behind be infected? As that's where the shooting pains are coming from). But I can't see my dentist yet as they are closed for the next coupe if weeks for reconstruction. The only other dentist in the area is a private one which I could not afford the treatment costs for.
I don't have any white patches in my mouth that I can see. Though I do have these very small pimple type thing in the corners of my mouth (inside, one one each side) that are very slightly, a lighter colour than the rest of my mouth, with thin straight line going away from them, which ho down to my gums at the back of my mouth, are they normal?. They don't hurt at all, nor do I have trouble breathing or swallowing. I cant feel any lumps or bumps in my cheek, or anywhere else in my mouth, apart from the one I mentioned on my gum. I have not lost my appetite that I've noticed but I have lost weight for no reason over the past few weeks. The doctor thinks that is due to me worrying about my health. I lost 8lbs before the doctor saw me , but I'm not sure in what time down that was in, as I hadn't weighed myself in 9 months before I started worrying about everything. I just assumed I lost it all recently and started scaring myself into thinking I had something horrible and she believes I lost extra weight in past week or so because of anxiety.
Wow, that was much longer than intended, but I though I'd get it all out there.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post, and I appreciate any help you could give me.